Extend your Wi-Fi network to cover any dead zones in your home

July 1, 2014

Transcript

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WiFi routers are a great way to take your Internet connection and share it wirelessly.
But there always seems to be one or two rooms in your home that don't get great WiFi reception.
I'm gonna show you two inexpensive ways to get your internet spread across your home.
The simplest, one-stop solution is a wireless range extender.
I got this one from TP-Link for about $30 online.
It may look like an air freshener but what it really does is act as a relay for your WiFi router.
It rebroadcasts a signal in rooms in your home that aren't getting great reception.
Here's how to set it up.
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First, find your WiFi router and plug the extender into a nearby location.
Next, the WPS button on your router.
WPS stands for WiFi Protective Setup, and it's an easy way for routers to pass along their login information to other devices automatically.
Press the button until it registers.
And then, go back over to the extender and press the button on the front.
After a minute, your router and extender will find each other and perform a little virtual handshake.
You'll notice that when you can see the rest of the lights on the extender all lit up, which indicates the signal strength.
Now that the extender's configured to act as an extension of your router, it's time to move it to another room.
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Plug it in and after a minute, you should see everything light back up on the extender.
And if you don't, you might be too far out of range for the extender to communicate back to your router.
So try a room that's slightly closer and see if that does the trick.
To test it out, take out your phone or laptop, and connect as usual.
You'll see your WiFi router's name listed.
You'll select it and you're up and running.
Now, in some unique cases, a WiFi range extender might not be the best solution.
Maybe you're trying to get Internet out to a garage that's not even attached to your home.
Or, you're trying to get Internet down to a basement that seems to just block out any kind of WiFi reception.
In this case I would try a power-line adapter.
These things work by sending a wired Internet connection over the copper wiring in your home.
They come in a pair.
And you plug one into your router and run an Ethernet connection from an available port on the back of your router to the connection on the adapter.
Plug the second adapter into the room where you need Internet and you can basically treat it like a wired Ethernet port.
Connect to it directly or set up another router here to make it wireless.
So, there you go, two tricks for extending the Internet to every corner of your home.
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